Beautiful Winter Walk

Where to begin… Molly Update…since she’s likely the single most dominant stream of joy in both of our lives.    (Well maybe not at 5:30 am on Sunday mornings!)

She’s growing like a little weed!   She’s in the 38 lbs range now.    Solid little dog and she has started to get her larger teeth in the front now.  DH and I get a kick out of pulling her little lips back on her front teeth because they are so big compared to her canines…it looks like she has front dentures!   I’m giggling just typing this now thinking about her funny little teeth.  I know small things amuse small minds!  J    House training is going superb!  No accidents in the house at all.  Chewing on the other hand is a whole other story!   We live in an old house…you already know this.   The walls are not perfectly flat and nicely dry walled.  Some places have dings and small tears.   We have random and miscellaneous holes throughout the house that we aren’t sure what was there.  In one particular place by the back door we had a small corner of drywall tape that had started to lift.   It wasn’t super obvious and it was on the “to do” list for the eventual repair.   Well…Our dear Molly may have thought her mud room needed repair sooner rather than later!   This is the small tear…after little missy was bored one day last week!   What a little stinker.   When I showed the damage to DH…He explained to me that the cat did it and Molly was just trying to fix it before we got home so that Miss Kitty wouldn’t be in trouble!   AND who’s dog do you think she is???

Both horses are doing great.   After a week of virtually no riding I rode on the weekend and had a spectacular uphill, forward and soft Izzy.   I guess the time off was just what she needed!   It was a beautiful sunny morning on Sunday so I made my way out to the bush as well to get some fresh air and see the sights.   Was lucky enough to witness a pair of deer in the back also enjoying the sunshine.

Emma is large and in charge…her normal self!    Her breathing issues have been the best in years.    She’s been in the arena to survey the sand changes.   She feels the mushy spots need to stay for her rolling pleasure!    Literally within a few seconds of cutting her loose in the arena her knees buckle and she’s upside down.   This process repeats itself at least 3 or more times in 5 minutes!

With the sand in the arena nearly straightened out, I have moved the horse “toys” in for some fun over the last half of winter.    Stay tuned for an update on those adventures to come.   I’m looking at building a few of the horse agility toys from Vanessa Bee’s courses…should be fun!

My folks were over on Saturday morning.   They once again did not show up at our door empty handed!    Another cord and half of fire wood was boxed up nicely in my dad’s truck.   We are the lucky benefactors of his wood pile now that he has put propane heat in his garage.    So nice to have all this wood in our first winter here.   It’s such a warm heat having the fireplace.  Thanks mom and dad for the load of wood…AGAIN!   We appreciate it…and so does Molly and Miss Kitty!

My love of the fireplace really does end at the heat tho.   I thought our previous house was dusty…holy mackerel the dust from the ash in the fireplace is consuming the furniture!   I am far from a picky house keeper.   (Lynn or Karen….either of you are welcome to visit me anytime with your rubber gloves!)   Now the evidence of my cleaning infrequency is exaggerated even more with a coating of fireplace ash on every possible surface.   Sometimes the cat sleeps so much on the couch by the fireplace I worry that there will be a clean circle on the cushion when she moves!   When is it economically feasible to justify domestic help?  

We did a bit of a hike through the bush on Saturday morning.   It was a fun morning being outside, exploring and watching the dogs find a scent and disappear to reappear in a totally new location that you didn’t expect!    

We found (we think) the one corner stake for the back corner of our lot.   

There are amazing trails throughout the bush that runs between Indian Rd East and the village of York.   Our portion of that bush is set about in the middle between the 2 concessions.   We have a bunch of clean up to do to make our bush rideable …it’s on the list!   

Here we are enjoying the winter outside.   

AND here are my Parents!   (and No I was not able to get my dad to take his cigar out of his mouth…even tho I asked!)

I had a lovely afternoon playing with Katie and her horse Topsecret on Sunday.   Katie and T are an upper level dressage pair that have dipped their toe into the horsemanship world.   It’s been a lovely transformation for T…he’s mentally so much quieter and his anxiety is like night and day.   A testament to Katie’s dedicated patience and sticking to a process that is very different than her previous Olympic level coaching!   Hugs to you Katie…he’s a rock star and the crazy mane proves it!  

Around the farm…DH has  put up a solar powered light in the ‘boys’ shelter.   It’s dark in there at chore time in the morning.     (As I side note, I have noticed the days are getting longer!!   Yippy!)    I like to give everyone a once over AM and PM to make sure there are no fat legs or open gashes that need immediate attention.   This light is a big help and even tho it’s only a 400 lumens LED it lights up the run in shelter enough to see bodies and pick up the poops.   (Very Important work!)

The little birds are still entertaining us.   A new window feeder has attracted the Chickadee's!   

And this lovely female Cardinal.

The day has finally come that I have retired my 10+ year old flip phone and moved to a smart phone.   The electronic leash has been clipped to my proverbial collar and I am connected to the world in a whole new way.   Accessibility is such a double edged sword.   I like being connected but I don’t always like being able to have others connect to me!   The flip phone was my best excuse.   “O my phone was dead” or “My phone doesn’t text” or “My phone won’t connect with my car so I couldn’t answer”…ALL of those excuses are gone now.   In my car the Bluetooth cuts the radio and announces who is calling from my phone book.   I have the phone on me most of the time because it’s my line to wifi and home internet.    Only time will tell if I will also become frustrated enough by this device to want to through it out the car window like the flip phone!

Inside the house, we have finally hung our first pieces on the walls.   It was not without some trials and tribulations but the large mirror over the buffet, that had been leaning up against the wall on top of the buffet for 2 months, is finally up.  Hurray – Tracy your plan worked!   I am seriously not sure how I ever got such a frivolous thing to the top of DH’s list to help me with it but it’s done and I am not complaining!    I also hung the handmade rug from my mom of Emmy over the fireplace in the kitchen.    This house is obviously country, so the rug fits in perfectly.   My design wall is also now hung in my studio and the E-I-E-I-O piece is hung in the hall way upstairs.   No photos or pictures yet but hey…Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Goodbye January Thaw

What about this weather?

I have really started to become a fair weather rider!     I rode on Monday night and it was cold.   I think the temp outside was -5°C without the wind chill.   So I will assume the indoor was -5°C.   I had on all my winter gear.   Fuzzy lined winter breeches, winter Mountain Horse boots, 3 layers of jackets and of course my ear warmer under my helmet.   I was as comfortable as one can get when you feel like the kid off 'The Christmas Story' that can’t bend any of his joints and when he falls in his snowsuit he can’t even get up!   I managed 30+ minutes of light exercise and gave the riding arena a good first test ride since the sand was removed.    Which by the way is wonderful!   There are a few mushy spots that will need some TLC but in general the improvement from move in day is 110%!  

Fast forward to tonight…Thursday…I am now on day three of zero riding.   The temps have plummeted to a chilly -10 to -15°C for a day time high and then colder over night. (At least for southern ON this is cold…Please don’t scoff at me too loudly my friends in the north; you are getting it way worse than us at -30 to -40°C!)

Is it wrong to just want to get the chores done, give the horses a once over, a few scratches and nuzzles and then park myself in front of the fireplace?   I just can’t bear to freeze when I ride anymore…at least not to go round and round inside.    Dressage work just doesn't have the same precision and feel when you're hands and feet are frozen.  Freezing out under the full moon would be far more worthwhile!

It’s been so cold on the farm that we have taken a bit of a break from the outdoors.   The home front has been pretty quiet this week.   It’s been too cold to work outside in the evenings.   Other than DH made some make shift doors on our 2 water areas in the barn so that the electric heaters will slow the meter from spinning off the pole!   It may be costing a small fortune to heat those two little rooms but the alternative (bucketing water from the house) is not up there real high on my favorite things to do list!   So I will swallow hard and pay the hydro bill because my back would cost more at the chiropractor.

This week we hired a farm business consulting firm to take over our taxes and help us with our financial planning.   We have no idea about HST and filing taxes to best maximize our returns.   I think stuff like that is best for experts that know the laws and know the interpretations that we can best take advantage of.   We will stick to building an agri-business and creating the farm life we have dreamed of. 

The cold has given me a chance to spend my very first moments in my studio this week!   Insert happy dance here!   Creativity has been at a stand still since before the move and it felt wonderful to just sit in there and think about the creative process.   I did do a very small amount of work organizing and then getting restarted on a UFO (Un-Finished Object).

Here is my studio at move in…

This is my studio now. 

I still need to hang up the design wall and repaint but I’m in and that’s what really matters.

Even tho it has been a cold week on the farm, I am still happy for the cold…there has been no mud and I’ve had time in my studio.  :-)

Arena Sand is Moved Out

This weekend DH moved the excess sand out of the arena.   It's been on the list in the job jar for awhile but it finally made it to the top!   Lucky Me ( and Terrie too!)  We are entering into a deep freeze this week so the ground was frozen (so was DH) and we have no snow on the ground, so it made the travel path solid to move the sand out without dragging mud back into the footing.

Here is what the arena looked like at the start.   This is after about 20+ tons of sand has already been moved out to fill the bottom 2 feet of our 400 feet of hydro trenching.

 Here we are in progress.   I was the operator of the rake and shovel moving the banks from the sides.

Here is DH with the leveller on smoothing out the lumps and bumps.

I can't believe how much bigger the arena looks with all the sand moved out.   We will work on riding in the pen now to find the spots that need to be fine tuned to make the foot just "so".   I am sure there will still be the odd deep spot and light spot here and there that will need a bit of adjustment.  But overall this is a huge improvement from when we moved in.   We estimate that we removed approximately ~80-100 ton of sand!!!   At this point, I am REALLY happy that I never spent the quoted $5,000 to buy the necessary sand for the outdoor ring.   Because....by the look of the pile DH made outside I will have enough here or at least enough to get a really good start on the already decent base.

We had a special visit from my cousin Alan and his wife Laura today.   It was great to see them and visit with them.  Laura is expecting in July and she looks fantastic!!   Alan will be back later in the winter to help us with our coyote problem.  Now that we have seen the tracks as close to the barn as cutting through the outdoor riding ring, he's will help us thin out the pack to make sure we don't have a major incident in the future.   I hate to do this but at the same time I would be even more upset to find that I had horses chanced or a dog lost to a much too brave pack.

On a Molly note...she has got all of her vaccinations now, so she is eligible to attend her puppy training classes.   She weighed in at a whopping 36 lbs at 4 months and 1 week old!   I hazard to suggest that she will be a big boned girl when she is grown!   She got to play with her second cousin Georgia today.   Molly couldn't even come close to keeping up with the sleek, long legged hunting dog of Alan's!

After watching the cat sit on the foot rest of the kitchen island bar, Molly has decided that she also fits well on the foot rest!

 (Please ignore DH's muddy pant leg...obviously he has been working outside...most likely on something that I am the beneficiary!)

From the Kitchen...
I made (for the first time) Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup.   It was delicious!  I would have roasted the peppers a slight bit more on the next patch to save myself the headache peeling them.   The bits that were black scorched well, where really easy to peel...so now I know!

Internet Rant & Inschallah's Birthday

I missed an update from last weekend’s January thaw…I was able to get all the fencing strung on the 3^rd pasture!   We just need to work out a gate and then 3 fields will be secure.   3 done and 3 more to go!   Who would have thought we would be able to string fencing in January? That makes last Sunday another productive weekend on the farm.

I have been lamenting the last several months since the move about my dreaded internet service.   I would never change living on the farm but rural internet and TV services in Southwestern Ontario, Canada for being such an industrialized, first world country have a lot to be desired.  I went from unlimited download wireless internet with Shaw to a cellular 3GB stepped up download with Bell.   We are not bandwidth hogs by any stretch of the imagination, but seriously who can live with a 3GB limit in this technically savvy day and age?    I just find it very annoying and contradictory that Bell considers the turbo hub a “residential” product yet the packages have such limited download.   The clincher for me is the fact that the same company (Bell) also sells cable internet and the residential users Ultra light package includes a 15GB download.   How can 1 company have such different philosophies for the same users?   AND to add salt to my already open wound that is bleeding GB over use at the tune of $10 per step up over 3GB, these cable home users are paying merely half of what I pay and they get 5X the bandwidth!!

A friend from the office, Jamie, has been “helping” me with my death by GB’s.   He frequently downloads shows and lets me share them from his portable drive.

He’s the tech savvy, in the know, on the cutting edge of all things electronic guy around the office.   When I can’t figure something out, whether it be how to hook up a new device or just want to know what the best software or latest upgrade is for whatever the device…he’s the go to guy.    He passes me his drive today and with mock pity in a contrived voice, gives his best Scarlet O’Hara of today’s era, “O, but have mercy on the 3Gig User.”    We both broke out laughing and he totally made my Friday!

The last thing for this Friday night post…I want to send a big shout out to my good friend Greta and her lovely horse Inschallah.   Today is Insch’s birthday and he’s a ripe old 32 years old.  Yes…that’s right, 32!   This I believe is a testament to the love and devotion he has received from Greta for the 29 years of his life that she has owned him.   I believe what Antoine de Saint-Exupery said is truly our obligation; “You are responsible, forever, for what you tame.”   Greta is a divine example of this love and devotion to her obligation.   Insch is a wise old soul.    He has a gentle soft eye and has the essence of an angel radiating from his core.   Thanks to photographer, Marian Adoranti for sharing these beautiful pictures she took of Insch last summer.   As you can see they captured his genuine eye and magical presence.   Love to you Greta for caring for this guy just like he’s family.

Time Will Not Stand Still

I don't know about you but time is going by at a blistering place these days.   So much has transpired since my last blog post.

Saturday night DH and thought we would have a date night.   We thought we would go catch a movie since it's been many months since we have gone to a movie.   By the time we get a few free hours, we are so tired that I would just fall asleep.   Anyone who knows me knows I watch very little TV.   Watching a movie in our living room and not falling asleep is such an amazing feat that DH actually tells me he's proud of me if I stay awake!
Well, I knew we were getting carried away thinking we would catch a movie because when I did night chores Izzy was "off".   She had loads of hay in her tail and when I dumped her oats in her bin she backed up and looked all for lorn at me.   Then she kicked at her stomach and I knew at that moment that she was colic-y.   So date night consisted of 3 hours of hand walking Izzy, two times on and off the trailer to help get things moving with an anxiety poop and a gram of bute to help her with the pain the gas was giving her.   Saturday turned out to be +15º so I think the rapid change in temperature upset her system.   She was totally fine the next morning and has shown no repeat signs since.
So, date night with DH was spent in the arena spotting each other off from 3 hours of hand walking!   Is that true love or what!?

DH and I got all of our Christmas lights and outdoor decor taken down and put away for another year.   All the lovely greenery that my mom put together has been taken down.   All the beautiful wreaths are gone and all that remains is the greenery in the urns and pots.   The driveway pots would have been naked if the greenery was removed from them.

The pump room has the plywood up on the interior walls now.   DH has to re-route the water line form the pump now in order to have the water tank moved in to the newly created pump room.   Maybe this weekend!   We have our 2 heaters running for the time being and will keep the 2 small areas warm enough to keep the water from freezing while we enter into the second deep freeze of the winter.

I had planned to have my first riding lesson since moving to the farm on Sunday, but it turned out Joe was a bit under the weather since he had an accident on his way home from Brantford on Thursday.   Sadly, the result of the accident meant that my coach of 15+ years is no longer driving.   In typical Joe fashion when I spoke to him early this week, he is taking this change in stride.  I hope to plan a clinic (with Lynda's help!) at some point in the next month or so to bring him down for the weekend for teaching and a tour of the farm.  

Molly is growing like a little weed.   She has been entertained this week by her "Aunt" Terrie's dog Tink.  The 2 of them tear around the arena like they own the place.   Molly has been training wonderfully.   The house accidents have been almost nil...one little pee this week but that was after 9 hours at home alone...so I am cutting her some slack!  She even knows to stay out of the arena when we are riding...and if she comes in Izzy has no trouble turning and chasing her out!

DH says that he wants a day off!   What's with that!   I have no idea what a down day is other than a down day at the steel mill where I work which translates into a very long workday for me if I have equipment going in.   He's a funny man; ain't he!

The Happy Accident

There have been a number of people in the past months that have noted to DH and I about how happy we seem to be on the farm.   That it shows in our faces, our conversations and our interactions with others.

I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on this, because I feel the happiness and I am glad that it is reflected throughout my being.   I think this farm is just a catalyst to happiness.   It’s opened the window of possibility and closed some doors of negativity that needed to be left behind.   It’s like anything new; it’s exciting, interesting and breaths hope into the heart.  

The purchase of this farm was fraught with turmoil.   I few of you already know the issues we encountered with the realtors, the banking system, the lawyer and of course the ongoing issues with the old owners.   But through all that “junk” there was a fresh start.   There was a chance to build something together.   There were dreams being realized and new dreams being imagined.  There were opportunities waiting to be taken.    I have made the choice to be happy and once you make that choice it becomes so much easier to live in that lifestyle that feeds your happiness.  

We have free will to be happy…Make happiness the choice.   Yes, I know what you are thinking!   I have drank the cool aid and I am some crazy hippy farmer now.   Maybe you’re right…but I know I have control of my happiness; it’s up to me to be happy.   It’s not up to DH to make me happy, it’s not up to my circumstances, it’s not my boss’ job or my families job or my friends job.  It’s not about having things or money or stuff to be happy.   It’s about making a choice and following it through.  Some days following it through is easier than others!   I am not naive enough to believe I am never grumpy (DH will certainly vouch for this one!), that I never have a bad day or I never get discouraged.  It’s knowing and believing that I own my happiness and if I am unhappy it’s all up to me to make the necessary changes to be happy.   Even tho some days it seems my resolve to be happy is tested at every task I set out to accomplish, I can still choose to make them into opportunities or make them into struggles.   It may be a corny mindset for some, but it’s working around this funny farm!

I consider the purchase of this farm “A Happy Accident”.   This was not the farm we set out to buy…it was actually stroked off the list very early on in our search due to price/size.   How this farm came about was through turmoil, stress, a tough decision to sell without a place to live and a week’s vacation in Barry’s Bay that was the farthest thing from a relaxing vacation.   We signed an offer on a house to buy, we sold our house unknowing that the house we had intended to purchase was sold out from under us, we had 6 weeks to find and close a deal on a new house and after some silly negotiations the stars aligned and we got the farm.   That’s a very simplified synopsis of events but fate intervened and things have turned out just as they were supposed to.   So, happiness for me comes from being flexible, having gratitude and appreciating that things don’t always turn out as you expect but there’s a darn good reason for it.

So, to my friends and family that have seen a change…thank you for being so honest and sharing that.   Happiness is contagious just like negativity.  I want to surround myself with positive…and I know that starts with me.  

On a totally different note, here is the progress report for the Pump room  - The spray foam has been completed and now we can get on with moving the tank and lines into one area, closing it all in with a real door and installing a heater.  

Here is the before and after pics of the new pump room.   Likely will be more progress on this over the weekend.

BEFORE

AFTER

Molly has been a superstar this week.  Spent her first week at home alone in the day and has Zero, yes you read that correctly folks, ZERO accidents in the house!   Look at how much she has grown...This is her on the cat's bed a week ago. 

  This is her from the first week we got her!

I also was lucky enough to have my old friends from high school over for our annual Christmas in January get together.   It's so great to have connections to these wonderful friends...it's a lifetime of memories that we share.   Having friendships like the ones we share are priceless.   Lisa and I have actually been friends since grade 1!  That's nearly 35 years we have been friends!  We are linked together forever with memories of times gone by and the fun we have planned for the future.

Love you girls so much!

DH and I have spent this week settling back into the routine of our day jobs again.  The 2+ weeks off at Christmas was fabulous.  I could really adapt easily to the farming lifestyle!   Doing chores, walking the dog, completing odd jobs, riding, cooking, spending time together and tending to life from home.   My car never even left the driveway for 10 days!  I think that’s a record for me.

But as I know this is a good life…it requires some funding and thus I tend to the office duties and projects at work with a new zest for a new year.  

To end off this post I have recently finished reading the book “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor.   Check out his TED Talk about the concept of the Happiness Advantage here.

We Have Power

What an adventure!   The Hydro is Upgraded!
The hydro upgrade started 2 months ago...it's still not completely finished yet but we have one major farm milestone completed this year and it's only Jan 4th!

Today we had our power switched over to the new central metering.   First things first...we have a long list of people to thank for all the help they gave us through out this major upgrade.

Mom and Dad - Thanks for all that you have done for us so far...this hydro challenge has just been one of the many projects you guys have not only helped with but have given up many, many hours of your time to help us.  We couldn't have done it without you guys...especially the early mornings and the late nights trenching.

Jeff from Yager Electric - I'm not sure Jeff knew what he was getting into with us.   This all started with the old owners rudely kicking Jeff off the property at our final walk through.   We could only assume they knew they had a lot to hide based on what we knew at the time of purchase.   Now we know they had a lot to hide and Jeff has been there since day one helping us sort out this mess.   We are getting there and we sincerely appreciate all that he has dine in the last 2 days getting us up and running again with an all new system that meets code and will provide us with more than ample power for anything we decide for the future.   It's all the little stuff left now...well maybe not the arena lighting upgrade; but that will certainly be less stressful than these past 2 days!

The Crew from Haldimand Hydro - What a great crew!   We had 5 trucks and a contractor for the pole drilling show up first things this morning.   I believe the crew was 12 guys in total and they worked in the very cold wind today.   They installed 2 new poles on the opposite side of the road, terminated our power, ran all the wiring to the new transformer on the central pole and also removed the old transformer and the old poles then hooked us back up with main power.   John was exceptional today!   He spent the entire day up in the air in one of the bucket trucks and was still in a good mood and smiling at the end of the day when they crew was packing up and on their way.    It was a nice treat to see the back deck full of orange and yellow reflective cloths enjoying a hot lunch off the BBQ today.    We supplied a hot lunch of burgers and sausages to the crew since it was such a cold day and what the heck...it was Friday and who doesn't like BBQ for lunch on a Friday!

Rob - Thanks for loan of your generator.   It was great having 2 on site so that we had lights in both the house and the barn to install the new panels.  Way easier for the guys than head lamps and I certainly appreciated having running water all day even tho we had no hydro!

So...we are inspected, hooked back up tonight and thinking ahead to what's next!

 3 of the 5 trucks

 4th truck in the drive...fifth truck was out of view along with the contractors rig with the drilling machine.

 John up in the bucket.

Staircase Repainting...
In the mean time, I spent some time over the last several days painting the staircase.   Painted the toe kicks white and the treads brown.   It's not the long term plan to leave the stairs painted; we will in time replace the treads with oak and stain them to match the floor.   But since that project is in the distances the painted staircase helps clean up the area since this was the biggest unfinished mess we left behind after the carpet removal.

Here are the stairs with carpet.

Here are the stairs before I started wood filling, sanding and painting.

Here it is withe kicks painted.

Thanks Mom for finishing the odd treads today as I was outside.

This is the finished staircase...

Feathered Friend Update...
More fantastic birds have made their way to the feeders.